


One Day

by nvzumii



Category: Voltron Legendary Defender, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith Realizes his Feelings for Lance, Lance (Voltron) is Sad, Lance is sad over Allura, Lance mentions the void in his heart, M/M, Post S6, Red Paladin Lance (Voltron), crying lance, keith comforts lance, klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-27 23:16:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15035462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nvzumii/pseuds/nvzumii
Summary: Post Season 6 One Shot of Lance coming to terms that Allura doesn’t feel the same way as he does. Keith helps Lance/ realizes he has feelings for him.





	One Day

**Author's Note:**

> To mend your broken Klance hearts, I give you this short story of how I imagine Keith would come accross his feelings for Lance.

> The journey back to Earth was painfully slow. Traveling without wormholes took time. It meant they had to settle down on planets—not always friendly—for the night to eat and rest. The team also had to avoid the occasional Galra fleet, not difficult because of Voltron. But with Shiro still recovering and no Castle of Lions to back them up, it was becoming exhausting. The whole team was still recovering physically and mentally from their battle with Lotor.

Keith was still recovering from his battle with Shiro's clone. But as the black paladin again, he couldn't let the team see his distress.

Coran insisted that Keith use their last healing pod when Shiro wasn't to heal his wounds but he argued, saying Shiro needed it more than him. So he settled for the med kit Pidge brought in her lion.

He sat in the brush, one leg crossed over the other, head tilted skyward as Pidge attended to his burn scar. They only found this planet a few vargas ago and were lucky enough it was mostly shaded by towering trees. Keith realized the team needed more than a night to rest, so he told everyone they'd have an entire day to collect themselves, gather food, rest, before they hopped back into their lions.

"Keith, scoot closer, my arms are only so long," Pidge sat on a small tree stump to make up for Keith's height. "Jeez you all need to stop growing, you're making me look even shorter."

"Maybe we should throw you into the Quantum Abyss for two years and maybe you'll reach Lance's height." Pidge let out a brash laugh, one Keith couldn't help but grin at. He missed hearing it through the halls of the _Castle_ as she joked with Hunk over mathematical jokes he half comprehended. He missed Pidge in general. He missed all of them.

Those two years in the Quantam Abyss with Krolia made him realize how much of a home Keith found in the other paladins, in Allura and Coran. It was the first place he truly felt one with himself. He didn't even feel as comforted with Shiro back at the Garrison, but Keith blames himself for that.

The abyss taught Keith that he needed to appreciate the relationships he had in his life. So he spent his time with all of his friends whenever they stopped on planets. His mother understood, after all, they did have two years alone with each other.

Keith scooted closer to Pidge, allowing her to take his left cheek in her small hand to hold his face steady as she dabbed at his burn scar.

"Hey guys, what's happening here?" Hunk placed himself next to Keith on the ground, brown eyes lidded with the same curious spark they always had.

"Just fixing up Keith's gnarly burn," Pidge turned to Hunk, hand still on Keith's cheek "Gonna leave a nice little scar without the healing pod."

"Oh--cool! He'll have a scar to match Shiro's. It also kinda looks like Krolia's galra marks, doesn't it? Pidge tell me that doesn't look like the marks on Krolia's face."

Pidge nods in agreement. It didn't take the two long before they indulged in conversation on how to calculate the distance from Earth without any of the _Castles_ maps. Keith didn't mind, their lit up faces as they talked amongst one another made it feel like it used to back before he left for the Blades.

Pidge finished disinfecting his burn but the three sat talking about things, catching up, as the day went on.

"We really missed you, buddy, glad to have you back with Voltron." Hunk smiled, swinging an arm over Keith's shoulder.

"Yeah, it didn't feel the same without you.” Pidge added, grinning widely.

They talked about their whole experience with Lotor, Keith returned with conversation on how it felt to be living someone else’s memories for two years. They talked about old times too, it was nice to reminisce.

“Remember when--when Keith--he--“ Pidge was clutching onto her stomach to suppress her loud laugh, but stopped immediately as Lance shuffled past the three of them.

"Lance!" She called out "Come here! You gotta join us, we were just talking about the time Keith nearly shit himself running from one of our--Lance?" It was clear to all of them that something was up. Lance didn't even turn to face them, he just held a hand up and waved it around as if saying, "not now, later", and headed for the Red Lion.

A few moments later, Allura walked by them. Pidge and Hunk exchanged a few worried glances.

"What is it?" Keith asked, mild concern laced in his voice.

They explained to Keith the whole story with Lance and his little crush on Allura, how it blossomed into something more, and how naturally, Allura chose Lotor and didn't feel the same way about Lance.

"Shouldn't someone be in there, you know, comforting him?" Keith recalled the countless times Lance had come to him when he reached his breaking points, as if he just knew Keith was going to crack like an egg. Lance was always there for everyone, and Keith didn't understand why no one was with him right now, doing the same.

"It's best to give him a few days," Hunk, being Lance's best friend, had seen him react to multiple heartbreaks and seemed to have a good grasp on Lance's emotional reactions to this kind of stuff  "He never likes to be alone, but with this, it's best to let him cool off."

Keith felt like he should help, but agreed with his fellow paladins.

***

The next few days, Lance seemed to fall into a routine, well, at least Keith noticed it.

He only came out of Red to get food, or find somewhere in the distance to relieve his bladder. He hasn't said a word to anyone since his conversation with Allura.

They had moved onto a new planet by now. Less forests, but more fresh water, which was good because currently no one had access to any sort of shower.

Keith spotted Lance returning from a nearby lake, swimming trunks on and a towel around his neck. Instead of joining everyone for dinner, he headed to Red.

"Maybe someone should go talk to him," Shiro whispered over to Keith, mouth half full of some sort of tuber Hunk cooked for everyone. Keith was glad Shiro was feeling well enough to join the group, but it didn't feel right with one paladin missing.

Keith knew Shiro like the back of his hand. And Shiro's comment was more of a nudge than anything. He wanted Keith to go talk to him.

Keith had wanted to go talk to Lance days ago. He'd formulated a response in his head the second he watched him resign to Red for the first time. Every day since, he came up with a new approach. None seemed to fit, but he learned from Krolia that sometimes, things need to flow naturally.

Before he fully processed it, Keith already stood at the mouth of the Red Lion. He knocked on her left paw, hoping the vibration was enough for Lance to hear.

Nothing.

He knocked again.

Still nothing.

Then he spotted him. Lance wasn't in Red. He was off in the distance under a tree. Keith should've known. He never shut up about swimming and water when Keith gave him the chance to talk about it. It wasn’t much of a surprise that Lance changed in Red and headed back out to sit by the lake.

"Lance," Keith spoke quietly as he approached him.

"Oh-- Hey, Keith." Lance flashed him a smile, but Keith could see through it.

He was about to ask Lance if he could sit with him, but Lance seemed to read his mind, already scooting over.

"This is the first time anyone's spoken to me in days," Lance chuckles. It's weighted, however. Not the usual bubbly laugh he carried throughout the _Castle_.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you days ago, but the others suggested to let you cool off first so," Keith watches Lance. He's staring off in the distance, at the lake probably. This whole Allura thing is really getting to him.

Lance simply nods, closing his eyes for a few moments. Keith likes to believe he's trying to compose himself for his sake. Keith knows Lance better than to let him fool him into thinking he's doing alright. Lance picks up on the smallest details; Keith's been getting better at doing so as well. And he sees the pain hidden behind his bright blue eyes that he’s trying his damndest to divulge.

Lance's face is pale. His eyes are blood-shoot, as if he's been crying days on end. He looks ready to explode with just the wrong touch or word said to him. It's clear to Keith that he's not taking this well. And he's been all alone. Keith knows Lance never likes to be alone, he always has to be around someone so he doesn't feel homesick or lonely. God, Keith should've just come to him the first day to help his friend.

Keith joins Lance in staring off at the lake. "Want to talk about it?"

There's a moment of silence. Keith doesn't expect Lance to speak so openly, especially not when he hasn't seen Keith in, what, months? But he does.

"Actually--Yeah, I do," He tells Keith about how much he's liked Allura. How much of a better person he wants to be because of her. He tells him about Lotor, and how she fell for him. About the conversation he had with Allura days ago. He chuckles when he talks about his conversation with the space mice and how he should've expected them to rat him out to Allura.

And he cries.

Lance let's his guard down in front of Keith likes he’s done a few other times. He sobs like it's not all he's been able to do for the past couple days. His face is red and hot, salty tears stream down his cheeks. He can’t control himself anymore.

Keith feels like he can't breathe. His heart aches for his friend. He wants to cry right alongside him, and he doesn't know why. But he holds himself together, for Lances sake.

"Hey, Lance, hey. It's okay. I'm right here. You're okay," Keith wraps an arm around Lance's shoulder, squeezing it tightly as Lance collapses into him.

Just when Lance thinks he's calmed down, a whole new wave of tears flood over him, _literally_.

He's clutching onto Keith's shirt now,  practically wheezing to catch his breath. Keiths moved his hand down his body. He's tracing circles around his back, something his mother taught him in the Abyss; she told him it used to calm his father down whenever he got like this.

"Keith--I--I d--don't even k--know why I'm c--cr--crying any m--m--more," Lance speaks through choked off breaths. He's worn himself out from all the crying, even he can tell.

"Shh, you can talk when you catch your breath," Keith moves to wipe a tear from Lance's flushed cheek and he flinches.

"Sorry, it just looked like you were drowning in your own tears."

Lance shakes his head "It's--it's okay," He clutches tighter onto Keith's shirt "I just, I--didn't exp--expect it."

"I said catch your breath," Keiths eyes widen at how husky his voice sounds. Lance seems to notice too. His sobs stop for just a moment, and then continue.

Lance breathes out deeply. Once. Twice. Three times, before he finally speaks again.

"When you left for the Blades, I didn't think you would come back to the team." His voice is shaky from all the crying but he manages to spurt out a full sentence.

"To be honest, I didn't think I was coming back either," Keith removes his hand from Lance's back and places it in his own lap. "I found my mom, and I was set on staying with her to make up for the eighteen years she missed out on."

"No, Keith," Lance closes his eyes, taking in another shaky breath "I prepared myself to possibly never see you again, as my friend, _at all_."

"Oh--"

"--When you left, things got lonely. Pidge had Hunk. Allura had Coran, Shiro, and Lotor. I had no one. I didn't know what to do anymore, so I trained more often, I played video games, I tried to busy myself to forget that a part of me was lost out in space--"

"Lance, I thought this was about Allura,

"--For the longest time I didn't know what had gotten over me. I had never felt so alone in my life, especially in a ship full of people. It felt like I was slowly suffocating and no one was around to hear it. It's like there was this void in my heart and I didn't know where it came from."

Keith shook his head "Lance, listen. I--"

"No, Keith. You listen," Keith was listening alright, eyes wide, gaze concentrated on Lance, shocked from the anger laced in his voice.

Lance continued "You left me! All alone! You--you left a void--in my heart. I had no one! Do you know how alone I've felt this whole time? Do you?!" He snaps, and Keith’s eyes widen. He had no idea Lance felt this way.

"Yes, Lance." Keith looks at Lance, concern and confusion piled in one expression.

"No, Keith, you don't," Lance has to bite down on the inside of his cheek to keep fresh tears from falling from his eyes. "You're Shiro's first choice. You're Krolia's first choice," _Hell, you might even be my first choice_. He doesn't tell him the last part. "I'm no ones first choice. Not Allura's, not Hunk's, not even yours."

It hits Keith and now he's not even paying attention to what Lance is saying anymore. He swallows hard. His face is burning up—a pink blush dusting his cheeks and the tips of his ears. A lump is forming in his throat. He's embarrassed but he doesn't let Lance notice.

He remembers what his mother told him two years earlier at the edge of the Abyss.

 _That's not true... I left to protect the person I most love_.

Keith thinks back to when he left Voltron. He left because he realized with Shiro back, his talent could be used better in other forms against the Galra. Or so he'd been telling himself.

He thinks back to the first time Lance opened up to Keith. In his bedroom, talking about the lion to paladin ratio. Lance thought it would be best if he stepped down from Voltron, let the best soldiers fight the war. But to Keith, Lance was a better soldier than he'd ever be. And the only way to protect Lance from his own self doubt, was to join the Blades. There he could make a better name for himself, not have to worry about messing up Voltron, be closer to his mother in a way.

It hits him harder than a semi-truck. The realization winds him short of breath. He's light headed and he has no clue what Lance is saying, something about how stupid he was to think Keith understood. But Keith does understand. He missed Lance too, and he felt lonely without him.

Keith squeezes his eyes shut. He too, left to protect the person he loved most.

And he was sitting right beside him, rambling about how angry he was that Keith left him alone for all these months.

Keith wants to scream. He wants to crawl behind the tree and shrink under its shadow and pretend like this realization never happened, that he didn't just discover how he truly felt about Lance. But it's too late for that now.

Lance has his head on Keith's shoulder. He's not talking anymore, just sitting and watching the water like before. He's still trembling from his breakdown, so Keith places his hand back on Lance.

"Lance?" He squeezes his shoulder.

"Mhm?" Lance is fidgeting with his jacket zipper, still listening.

“I didn’t know--you felt that way about me leaving,” Keith is closing his eyes again, trying to calm himself down so his voice doesn’t sound as small and scared as it does now “You could’ve talked to me about it.” He croaks out.

Lance shakes his head, face now reddened, but hidden in Keith’s shirt “If I said something, you wouldn’t have left, and I knew how much the Blades meant to you,”

Keith wants to tell Lance. He wants to tell him why he really left. He wants to tell Lance how much he’s missed him. He wants to let Lance know that he means everything to him. That he would go to the ends of the universe for him, die for him, leave to protect him.

But he doesn’t.

Lance is already crying again, and Keith doesn’t want to burden him with his own feelings just yet.

He pulls Lance closer to him, wrapping an arm around his body. He holds him silently as he soaks Keith’s shirt with fresh tears.

“I’m sorry, Lance,” he squeezes his body as he whimpers into his chest. “I’m so sorry, I had no idea,” he repeats “I’m sorry,”

He holds Lance tightly, as if shielding him from everything bad in the universe, just like his mother did with him. He doesn’t loosen his grip until Lance is calm once more.

Keith looks down at Lance, he’s trembling in little fits, hiccuping every so often. He’s vulnerable, and he’s allowed himself to be vulnerable in front of Keith.

“Lance,” Keith stops when Lance shifts his head so he’s looking right into Keith’s gray eyes. “I can’t change the fact that I left, but I’m here now, and you need to know that I’m always going to be here if you need a shoulder to cry on, or anything,”

There’s a brief silence, and then there’s laughter. Lance is laughing. Keith can feel his chest huffing against his own as he laughs and laughs.

Now he’s clutching onto Keith’s shirt again, unable to hold his laughter in. It’s a warm laughter, not like before. It’s weightless, and Lance can’t stop.

“Lance, what are you--why are--“ Keith huffs.

“You!” He squeaks out “You’re such a softie!” He shouts and now there’s tears falling from the corners of his eyes. He’s clutching onto his stomach to keep him from pushing them both into the ground.

“Yeah,, So?!” Keith feels heat rising to his neck and face. There’s no hiding his blush now.

“Oh, god K-Keith! I didn’t think you had it in you!” Now Lance is smiling. Keith should’ve started by saying something like that if he knew Lance would do a 180 and act as if he weren’t just bawling his eyes out.

Keith’s face grows more red, he didn’t even think it was possible “I won’t hesitate to throw you in,” he points at the water.

Lance throws himself back into Keith, wrapping his arms around his waist “No,  
No! I still--I still need comforting! No lake!”

God, Lance can be such a baby when he wants to. Keith should be annoyed by it, but it only makes his heart melt.

“Keith,” Lance is calm now. His voice is serious.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you,” he sighs “For today, for making me feel happier than I have in months,”

“And for making me listen to your ear piercing shrieks you call laughter?”

“That too,” Lance is smiling, he’s missed the feeling “But for real, man. Thank you.”

“What friends are for, I guess,” Keith mumbles, but there’s no mistaking Lance heard it.

“God, I can’t believe how soft you’ve gotten. Couldn’t have been the Blades. Was it the Abyss? Did aging you up two years make you wiser? I doubt it but- -“

“--Lance,”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up!”

Lance nods, but he can’t hide his smile any longer. He nuzzles his face into Keith’s chest once more. He looks out at the lake, watching the ripples of movement, watching the shadows of the trees move across. He’s happy. And he knows Keith is too.

Keith stares off at the wildlife, occasionally glancing down at Lance, at his amazement with this planet. He ruffles his short hair a bit, not bothering to comment that his hair is growing a mullet of its own.

He’s content with just sitting here in silence. He knows how he feels now. He won’t tell Lance today though, won’t burden him with his emotions. Not for a while. He needs time to emotionally heal from his broken heart, Keith understands that much.

He tells Lance that someday, he’ll find the one person that wants him as their first choice. That it’ll make up for everything he’s felt these past couple of months.

They stay close, Lance cuddled up into Keith for as long as they can get away with it. It’s calming, and it makes them both forget about the Galra, and the fact that they still had light years to travel before they reached Earth. They both know in their hearts that one day, everything will work itself out, that the universe will be safe from any evil. One day.

One day, Keith will tell Lance how he feels. And he’ll tell him that he’s Keith’s first choice, and that he has been all along.

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t forget to give this a kudos & comment your thoughts!
> 
> Might do a follow up story with how Lance comes across his feelings for Keith or Lance’s bi arc ((:


End file.
